《能言馬與男孩》第51期:穿過大沙漠(5)
Of course one tried all sorts of games with oneself to try to make the time pass: and of course they were all no good. And one tried very hard not to think of drinks-iced sherbet in a palace in Tashbaan, clear spring water tinkling with a dark earthy sound, cold, smooth milk just creamy enough and not too creamy - and the harder you tried not to think, the more you thought.
At last there was something different - a mass of rock sticking up out of the sand about fifty yards long and thirty feet high. It did not cast much shadow, for the sun was now very high, but it cast a little. Into that shade they crowded. There they ate some food and drank a little water. It is not easy giving a horse a drink out of a skin bottle, but Bree and Hwin were clever with their lips. No one had anything like enough. No one spoke. The Horses were flecked with foam and their breathing was noisy. The children were pale.
After a very short rest they went on again. Same noises, same smells, same glare, till at last their shadows began to fall on their right, and then got longer and longer till they seemed to stretch out to the Eastern end of the world. Very slowly the sun drew nearer to the Western horizon. And now at last he was down and, thank goodness, the merciless glare was gone, though the heat coming up from the sand was still as bad as ever. Four pairs of eyes were looking out eagerly for any sign of the valley that Sallowpad the Raven had spoken about. But, mile after mile, there was nothing but level sand. And now the day was quite definitely done, and most of the stars were out, and still the Horses thundered on and the children rose and sank in their saddles, miserable with thirst and weariness. Not till the moon had risen did Shasta - in the strange, barking voice of someone whose mouth is perfectly dry-shout out:
"There it is!"
There was no mistaking it now. Ahead, and a little to their right, there was at last a slope: a slope downward and hummocks of rock on each side. The Horses were far too tired to speak but they swung round towards it and in a minute or two they were entering the gully. At first it was worse in there than it had been out in the open desert, for there was a breathless stuffiness between the rocky walls and less moonlight. The slope continued steeply downwards and the rocks on either hand rose to the height of cliffs. Then they began to meet vegetation - prickly cactus-like plants and coarse grass of the kind that would prick your fingers. Soon the horse-hoofs were falling on pebbles and stones instead of sand. Round every bend of the valley - and it had many bends - they looked eagerly for water. The Horses were nearly at the end of their strength now, and Hwin, stumbling and panting; was lagging behind Bree. They were almost in despair before at last they came to a little muddiness and a tiny trickle of water through softer and better grass. And the trickle became a brook, and the brook became a stream with bushes on each side, and the stream became a river and there came (after more disappointments than I could possibly describe) -a moment when Shasta, who had been in a kind of doze, suddenly realized that Bree had stopped and found himself slipping off. Before them a little cataract of water poured into a broad pool: and both the Horses were already in the pool with their heads down, drinking, drinking, drinking.
"O-o-oh," said Shasta and plunged in - it was about up to his knees - and stooped his head right into the cataract. It was perhaps the loveliest moment in his life.
當然，人們會竭力用各種各樣的遊戲來消磨時間:當然，各種遊戲都毫無用處。他們竭力不去想到飲料——在塔什班城一個王宮裏唱的冰涼果汁，來自黑沉沉大地的津津清泉，乳酪豐富而不油不膩、冰涼柔和的牛奶——愈是竭力不要去想它，卻愈是想得厲害啊。
最後終於出現了個有點兒不同的東西——沙土裏隆起一大塊石頭，高三十英尺，長五十碼光景。大石頭並不投下多少陰影，因爲此刻太陽升得高高的，只形成一點兒遮陰的地方。他們擠到遮陰之處，在那兒吃些食物，喝了一點兒水。盛在皮囊裏的水是很難給馬喝的，但布里和赫溫都巧妙地運用了它們的嘴脣。誰也沒有吃夠喝夠。誰也不說話。馬兒渾身都是斑斑點點的汗漬，呼吸的聲音很大。孩子們臉色蒼白。
休息短短一會兒後又重新趕路了。同樣的聲音，同樣的氣味，同樣的眩目的反光，終於，影子開始落在他們的右邊，愈來愈長，彷彿要伸展到世界的盡頭。太陽十分緩慢地挨近西邊的地平線，現在太陽終於落山了，感謝老天爺，殘酷的反射光芒消失了，儘管從沙漠裏升騰起來的熱氣仍舊咄咄逼人。四對眼睛都在迫切地張望着山谷的蹤影，薩羅帕德和渡鴉都提到過山谷的。然而，一英里一英里地走過去了，依舊只見一片平沙。如今白晝肯定是完全結束了，大部分的星星也都出來了，馬兒仍舊嘚嘚前行，孩子們在馬鞍上起伏不定，又渴又累，苦極了。月亮還沒有升上來，沙斯塔用嘴裏幹到極點的人那種奇怪的粗糙聲音喊道：
“前面就到了！”
現在可錯不了啦。前邊兒，稍稍偏右，終於出現了一個斜坡:一個迤邐而下的斜坡，兩邊都是石塊壘成的小丘。馬兒累得話也說不出來，只是搖搖晃晃地向前跑去，一兩分鐘後他們就進了隘谷。一開頭，在隘谷裏要比在空曠的沙漠上更不舒服，因爲夾在石牆之間，悶熱得氣也透不過來，而且月光也少了。斜坡峻急地往下延伸，兩邊的岩石高聳成峭壁。接着，他們開始遇見植物了——仙人掌似的多刺植物，以及會扎痛手指的粗糙野草。不久，馬蹄不復踏在沙上了，而是踏在卵石上了。他們在山谷的每一個轉彎處——拐彎可多哩——迫不及待地尋找着水。馬兒幾乎到了筋疲力盡的地步，赫溫腳步蹣跚、氣喘吁吁，落在布里的後面。終於在他們幾乎絕望時遇到了一點兒泥漿，和一條從茂盛柔軟的青草之間滲過來的涓滴細流。細流變成了小溪，小溪變成了兩岸灌木叢生的小河，小河又變成了大河。在經歷了我無法形容的許多失望之後，竟出現了喜出望外的時刻：一直處於瞌睡狀態的沙斯塔，突然發覺布里停步不走了，他自己也滑下馬來了。他們面前有一道小瀑布瀉入一個寬闊的水池:兩匹馬兒已經在水池裏了，它們低着腦袋，喝啊，喝啊，喝啊。
“噢——噢——喔。”沙斯塔說，向池塘裏跳了進去——池水漫到他的膝頭上——他乾脆把腦袋伸到小瀑布裏去。也許這是他生平最輕鬆愉快的時刻了。
